Survey: Some people think it’s time for a female or gender-neutral Santa

By Katey Psencik kpsencik@gatehousemedia.com

Friday

Dec 14, 2018 at 4:31 PMDec 14, 2018 at 4:37 PM

Should Santa Claus have an iPhone? What about a hoverboard? Is it time for Jolly Old St. Nick to “rebrand” himself?

Some people say yes, according to a new survey (although a sleigh is definitely way cooler than a hoverboard, y’all).

Design software company GraphicSprings conducted a survey across the United States and United Kingdom, consulting 400 people on how they’d “modernize” Santa and asking 4,000 people to vote on the answers they received.

READ MORE: The cheeriest holiday bars around the U.S.

Just over 72 percent of people said Santa should be male, but more than 10 percent said Santa should be female, and 17 percent said Santa should be gender-neutral.

Other popular suggestions? Santa should have an iPhone, wear sneakers and overall be more “hipster” -- survey respondents wanted tattoos, a new hairstyle and even wanted him to go on a diet.

As far as Santa’s transport goes, respondents thought he should travel in a flying car or on a hoverboard, and 16 percent of survey respondents said he thought he should scrap the transport and just use Amazon Prime (it would probably be less stressful, TBH).

LISTEN: All the best Christmas songs you need to get through the holidays

For the traditionalists out there, there’s good news from the survey: despite the popular votes on changes to Santa’s appearance, the majority of survey respondents said they didn’t want any of the changes listed. As far as Santa’s change in appearance, more than 70 percent of people said they wouldn’t want any of the suggested changes, and more than 50 percent of people didn’t want the listed updates to Santa’s transport. A sleigh, beard and big belly it is, then.